by Lynn Hagen
“How did you do that?” Ahm asked.
“Do what?”
“Get rid of him so fast.” Ahm needed to know the secret. He had a feeling Abe would be back. The man almost looked as if he was enamored with Ahm.
Malcolm gave a deep chuckle. “Abe is harmless. He attaches himself a little too quickly, and without invitation, but he just needs attention. He’s a little needy.”
“Aren’t all of your sons mated?” Ahm asked. The question made him think of Bryce. If Abe flirted with Bryce, he was going to show the small fey what it meant to mess with a Shadow’s elf’s mate.
“Everyone knows Abe doesn’t make it personal. They guy is infatuated with someone new every week. I take it he’s got his sights set on you.” It wasn’t a question, which told Ahm that Malcolm—and the rest of the family—saw Abe’s actions as normal.
It wasn’t normal. How could anyone attach himself to a mated man? In his tribe, that was grounds for death. But the bears ignored Abe’s advances. What a strange family. He liked the Lakelands, but in Ahm’s eyes, they were a little too lenient with Abe. The man needed to be taught his place.
“I see you’re feeling better,” Malcolm said.
“A little sore,” Ahm admitted. “But well enough to get out of bed.” He wanted to ask where Bryce had gone off to, but Ahm’s pride wouldn’t allow him. He didn’t want to seem like he was chasing after the bear. He chased after no one. Although, secretly, Ahm was relieved Bryce was giving him another chance.
“Good, then I could use a hand outside.”
“Manual labor?”
Malcolm pinned Ahm with a questioning stare. “Afraid to get your hands dirty?”
Ahm bristled at the way Malcolm had phrased his question. As if Ahm was too soft to work hard. “I am very accustomed to hard work.”
A wide grin broke across Malcolm’s face. The look reminded Ahm of Bryce. And then he thought about the kiss they had shared upstairs. As badly as Ahm wanted the kiss to advance to more pleasurable things, he wasn’t going to beg. Bryce had backed away. Ahm had let him.
“Come on, the day’s already half over.”
It was only ten in the morning. How was it half over? Ahm was starting to wonder about these bears. They lived a very different lifestyle than the Shadow elves.
Stepping outside, Ahm’s eyes zeroed in on the horse that was corralled all by himself. He was large, black, and reminded Ahm of a noble warrior.
“This is Hell Raiser.” Malcolm waved a large and beefy hand toward the black horse. “He is going to make a fine breeding horse. The problem is, he is a little too frisky with the ladies. So, it’s come down to getting what we need from him and fertilizing the mares ourselves.”
Ahm gaped at Malcolm. “You want to teach your horse about sex?”
The knowing grin on Malcolm’s face made a chill race up Ahm’s spine. “No, Ahm. We are going to collect his sperm and use it to impregnate two handpicked mares.”
Ahm backed away. Visions he wished he never had again in life entered his mind and he wanted to scrub them away with a fucking scouring pad. “You’ve got to be joking!”
“I thought you said you weren’t afraid to get your hands dirty.”
“That’s disgusting.” Ahm was not…no, he wasn’t…hell no!
“Stop looking as if you are going to pass out. I just need you to hold him steady while the man I hired extracts his sperm. Do you know how valuable his little soldiers are?”
Ahm felt a little queasy. “You want me to hold his head while someone… Is there something else around here I can do?” Pride be damned.
Malcolm gave a booming laugh. “Go help Riley in the barn.”
Ahm quickly turned. He had to force himself not to run. He wasn’t only running from the idea of holding the horse’s head, but being anywhere close when the extraction began. That was just too damn bizarre.
As he entered the shady and cool barn, Ahm spotted the eldest brother on the far end. He was on his knees, leaning inside one of the stalls. The guy glanced up when Ahm approached him.
“Feeling better?” Riley asked.
“Much.” Ahm glanced down to see a goat lying down, its stomach extended. It was very clear the animal was pregnant. “Malcolm suggested I come in here to lend a hand.”
Riley waved Ahm closer. “Good. Rags is having a hard delivery. I’ll need some help.”
Ahm did not move closer. The goat made a strange noise, her head moving up, and then she laid it back down again.
“How are you going to help her?” Ahm asked.
“I need you to hold her head while I shove my hands up into her uterus and assist the kid down the birthing canal.”
Ahm quickly covered his mouth, bile rising to the back of his throat. He swallowed, and then swallowed again, hard. “You want me to hold her head while you do what?”
Fighting each and every sentinel in his tribe was starting to look promising.
“Just get in here and hold her head.” Riley moved the goat’s legs apart, and Ahm nearly lost his stomach contents. He had always considered himself a very brave man, but holding a goat’s head while Riley… Ahm felt a bit dizzy.
“What are you waiting on?” Riley asked.
Ahm backed away. “I forgot to take the medication Dr. Sheehan left for me. My leg is beginning to throb in pain.” Again, pride be damned. He was not about to hold the goat’s head while Riley… Ahm walked from the barn.
What was wrong with these people?
“Hey, Ahm,” Gavin called out. He was sitting atop a horse.
“Yes?” he asked as he continued to head toward the house. Getting back in bed seemed the only way to escape the madness around here.
“I have to mend some fences. Mind helping?”
Mending fences didn’t involve holding an animal’s head. Ahm would gladly fix a fence. “I can assist you with that.”
“Good,” Gavin said as he got down from his horse. “I’ll saddle up Buster and you can ride him. He’s a real gentle horse.”
Gavin wanted Ahm to ride a horse? He’d never ridden a horse a day in his five hundred years. They smelled funny.
Ahm watched as Gavin walked the animal from the barn.
“I’m not sure I should ride with stitches in my thigh.” There was no way he was getting on that large animal.
“Oh hell,” Gavin said. “I forgot about that.”
Ahm had dodged that bullet.
“We can ride in the truck instead.”
Ahm would have to remember to stay in bed tomorrow morning.
Chapter Nine
Bryce pulled into the ranch late in the afternoon. He had hired the men needed to help out on the ranch. There should be no problems getting the work done—if everyone showed up. Most of the men he didn’t know, but the owner of the feedstore seemed to be a wealth of information. The man had known everyone who was in dire need of a job—which was odd. Clay had taken over the feedstore not too long ago from the last owner, yet he knew who needed a job.
It was a sad thing that a man who hadn’t been here long knew more about the people of Brac Village than Bryce did. He didn’t really know the townspeople. Maybe with them working here, that would change. Maverick prided himself on taking care of this community and the Lakelands could do no less.
“Get everything taken care of?” Pa asked as Bryce exited his truck.
“Hired ten men. They’ll be here first thing in the morning.” Bryce knew he had to fill his pa in on everything, but he was anxious to go check on Ahm. As much as Bryce had wanted the man to suffer for his betrayal in keeping who they were to each other a secret, now that his mate was injured, he wanted to make sure the elf was comfortable.
“He’s not in the house, Bryce.”
Bryce stopped walking and slowly turned toward his pa. “Then where is he?”
Oh, he so didn’t like that slow grin forming on his pa’s face. “He’s out mending fences with Gavin.”
“He’s what?” Bryce felt his hear
t clench. “But he’s injured. You sent him to work with a messed-up leg?” He dropped the truck keys on the ground he was so startled at what his pa did. He didn’t think the man cruel, but to send an injured man… “Why did you do that?”
A scowl replaced the amused expression. “Is that what you think of me? Boy, I’ll slap the taste out of your mouth. For your information, Ahm came downstairs, telling everyone he was fine. He wanted to be put to work.” His pa placed his hands on his hips. “I tried to give him something easy to do, but I don’t think Ahm wanted to hold Hell Raiser’s head while we—”
Bryce held up a hand. “You were going to make him go near Hell Raiser?”
“He would have been safe,” his pa reassured Bryce. “But I think he’s a little on the squeamish side. I sent him to help Riley with Rags, but again, your mate is squeamish.”
Squeamish was not a word Bryce would have associated with Ahm. The man was strong, beautiful, and had too much damn pride. But he couldn’t imagine Ahm backing away from any challenge. “I’m going to check on him. The men will be here in the morning.”
“You already said that, son.”
Bryce grabbed his keys from the ground and climbed back into his truck. Ahm working the ranch was something he just had to see. He wondered if his mate had tied back all the silky white hair, or if it was lying in a mess across his sweat-slicked body.
He was getting hard just thinking about it.
Driving the access road to the back pastures, Bryce tried his best to get rid of his hard-on, but when he parked his truck and saw Ahm hard at work, his compacted muscles straining as he helped Gavin secure the barbed wire, all hope of having a soft cock went out the window.
Ahm was wearing a determined expression, sweat soaking the back of his shirt, his hair matted and clinging to his pale flesh. Bryce nearly jacked off in the truck at the sight.
He was also concerned. Ahm didn’t know about mending fences. If the barbed wire snapped back, it could kill his mate or brother. Bryce was pretty confident in Gavin’s skills, but Ahm was new to all of this.
Easing from the truck, Bryce damn near swallowed his tongue when his mate pulled his shirt over his head to wipe at his face, exposing nicely shaped pecs and a flat abdomen with slight ridges. He was so pale that his brown nipples stood out in stark contrast to his white skin.
“You need to rest?” Gavin asked as he straightened. The barbed wire was in place, but Bryce could see a few more places needing repair.
“I’m good,” Ahm answered, but Bryce could see the slight wince on his mate’s face. Ahm was not good. He was in pain. That set his back teeth to grinding. What was the man trying to prove?
Bryce cleared his throat. “Pa sent me up here to help.” It was a lie, but Bryce wasn’t about to watch Ahm work until his stitches were busted open. The fences needed to be mended because the cattle were going to be turned out for the summer, but that didn’t mean his mate had to suffer in order to get things done.
Ahm slid his eyes toward Bryce in a covert manner, and Bryce pulled his shirt off, admittedly peacocking for the man. “Let’s get this done.”
He could see the knowing snicker on Gavin’s face. His brother knew exactly what Bryce was doing. Ahm just kept stealing furtive glances, pretending to ignore Bryce.
“Grab the wire and get it ready for the next fence,” Gavin said as he pointed to the spool on the ground. Bryce bent at the waist, letting his muscles flex as he grabbed the wire.
“Can you finish up here?” Gavin asked. “I need to get some things done in town.”
Ahm’s head snapped toward Gavin, his eyes narrowing.
“Sure, go ahead.” Bryce waved him off. “We can handle things from here.” He just prayed they finished their work. Bryce had other plans in mind. He wasn’t going to mate Ahm just yet, but they could have so much fun doing other, equally pleasurable things together.
As soon as Gavin pulled away, Ahm turned, his eyes raking over Bryce’s chest. “Okay, you’ve gotten me alone. Now what?”
“Don’t know what you are talking about,” Bryce said as he began to walk down to the next section that needed to be repaired. “I just came out here to help. How was I supposed to know Gavin would ditch us?”
They worked side by side for the next few hours, Bryce making sure he did most of the hard work. He didn’t want Ahm hurting himself any more than he had to. The stubborn man had refused to go sit down somewhere.
Bryce finally stood, stretching his back when the sun began to set in the sky. “I think we got it all.” He was going to need to sit in a hot bath after the afternoon he just had. Whether Ahm knew it or not, Bryce had done most of the work.
But Ahm hadn’t slacked off. He was covered in sweat and his white beater was filthy. The guy looked like he had rolled around on the ground in it. As tough as Ahm acted, Bryce knew for a fact the guy wasn’t used to manual labor. He was going to have to talk to his pa about finding something easy for Ahm to do—at least until he healed.
“We worked right through supper,” Bryce said. “But there should be a plate set aside for each of us.”
“Do you work like this every day?” Ahm asked as he helped Bryce load the tools and supplies into the truck.
Bryce scoffed. “This was an easy day compared to most.”
“I see why you’re as big as a bear.” Ahm slammed the tailgate closed. All Bryce could do was stand there and stare at his mate. Had Ahm just complimented him?
Ahm gave Bryce a small smile, and Bryce knew he was not immune to it. He was a charming man when he wasn’t being a stubborn jackass. Bryce liked the flirting Ahm. It was kinda nice.
But just that fast the flirtatious look was gone. Ahm was clenching his jaw, and Bryce didn’t think all the sweat on the man’s body came from work.
Ahm was in pain.
And he proved it when he hit the ground hard.
Bryce rolled him over onto his back and checked his breathing. Ahm’s eyes were partially closed, but he wasn’t speaking. A small groan escaped his throat.
“You overdid it today,” he reprimanded Ahm as he lifted his mate up into his arms and hurried him toward the front of the truck. His heart hammering, Bryce settled the tall man inside and snapped the seat belt in place. “I’ll have you home in a minute.”
As he slid into his side, Bryce grabbed his phone and called Dr. Sheehan, asking the man to meet him at the ranch.
He didn’t like that Ahm wasn’t saying a word, or that his eyes were still partially closed. Driving the truck as fast as he could without becoming reckless, Bryce made it to the house in less than thirty minutes.
Dr. Sheehan was just pulling up.
“How bad?”
“Not sure. He just collapsed and hasn’t said a word since I called you.”
“You had him out working?” the doctor asked in astonishment.
Bryce lifted Ahm from the seat as Dr. Sheehan raced to get the front door. “Don’t lecture me, Doc. It was his idea, not mine. Tell me you can argue logic to your mate when he becomes stubborn.”
Jason grunted behind him.
“No, I can’t.” The doctor followed Bryce upstairs and into his bedroom. Laying Ahm down carefully, Bryce worked his mate’s pants off.
Sweet baby Jesus. Ahm had gone commando. Bryce draped his mate’s groin with a small blanket and then took a step back for the doctor to take a look, but he couldn’t get the image of Ahm’s shaft out of his mind. Never before had he seen hair so white and soft looking surrounding someone’s cock. “How’s it look?”
“I’m going to have to re-stitch him. He busted every last one.” The doctor sounded downright pissed. Bryce watched as he reached into his bag and grabbed a syringe.
“What’s that for?”
“To keep him knocked out while I work. He’s going to be in a lot of pain once he comes to.” Dr. Sheehan gave Ahm the shot and then began to work. “If he gets out of bed one more time before I give him the all-clear, I’ll bring straps over and tie him down.
”
“I’ll relay the message,” Bryce said just as his pa walked into the bedroom.
“Damn, boy, I didn’t say work his stitches out of him.”
Bryce scowled at his pa. “I didn’t. He wouldn’t listen when I told him to sit down somewhere.”
His pa took a look over Dr. Sheehan’s shoulder. “Yeah, I can’t see anyone telling the guy what to do. I don’t think I’ve ever met a more stubborn man.”
That was the truth.
“Can you men take it outside in the hallway?” Dr. Sheehan asked. “I need to concentrate here.”
Bryce didn’t want to go anywhere, but his pa clapped him on the shoulder and led him from the room. “He’s in good hands.”
Jason was standing outside the bedroom door, his back against the wall.
“Come on, son. Let’s go get us a cup of coffee.”
Jason glanced into the room and then back at Pa.
“Your mate is safe,” Pa said as the three of them walked downstairs. The kitchen was still in full swing, everyone eating supper. Bryce wasn’t hungry any longer. All he wanted to do was go back upstairs and make sure Ahm was all right.
“Have a seat,” Pa said to Jason. “Grab a plate and help yourself.”
“Thanks,” Jason said and did as Pa said.
Bryce grabbed a cup of coffee and leaned against the counter, glancing up at the ceiling every few seconds.
“He’s fine, son. I’m pretty sure the doc would have said something if it was worse.”
He knew his pa was speaking the truth, but until Bryce saw that Ahm was fine, he was going to worry. He stood there berating himself for not making Ahm go sit down. Telling the man to go home would have been out of the question. Ahm did what he wanted. It was in the very way he walked, talked, and acted. Bryce liked that he had such a strong-willed mate, but he could tell it was going to set them to arguing time and again. He had a feeling he was going to throttle Ahm before the week was out—maybe even the night if the man proved too stubborn.
“I’m not going to throttle him. I’m not going to throttle him,” was Bryce’s murmured mantra as he walked into the living room and settled back into a chair to wait.